Tag Archives: vacation

Post navigation

I know it’s been a good chunk of time since my last entry, but I’m not even gonna bother going back to catch up on what I’ve already written… because honestly not a whole hell of a lot has been different, so I don’t have that much to write about. We’ve had a couple decent snow storms, and a couple days where the temps were in the negatives in the morning, so that’s managed to keep me at home just as much as my normal anxiety issues usually do. 😏

One out of the ordinary thing… I did take a trip to ‘Da Boat with Bri for two nights last week. 😊 We’ve talked about it for months, and have had it in the planning stages for the past several weeks – so we were relieved to have pulled it off, considering that both of us have any number of things that could have popped up to wreck the plan. 😳 Last time she was down there with me was years ago when Dezzy also came along, and they couldn’t even get onto the boat back then.

So of course that’s why we were really looking forward to this trip, since she could see and do everything along with me this time. We took a bunch of outfits and props and shit, just in case we decided to do baby belly photos, but it was too easy to just be lazy in the room or going up to the boat to have fun… so very few pics were actually taken, and that was absolutely fine with us. 😋 Our luck would come and go, but it was good enough at times that I could actively see the gambling bug taking hold of her brain right before my very eyes. 😅 Heh… it wasn’t really like that, but she did have a good time and played enough to where she developed favorite machines and everything.

This past week or so has been nice… not having any appointments, not forcing myself to worry about any responsibility stuff. 😐 Heh… that sounds bad. I just mean that I let myself take a break from all of the adulting for a while, although I’m picking back up where I left off here in a bit. (Catching up on the bills that have been stacking up in the mean time) Oh… I do have another “since our last episode” story that I almost forgot about. It’ll be coming up a bit later, if I manage to get through all the bills this evening…

But this trip… I dunno… the more that I think about my medical stuff, the more that I want to do stuff with my friends while I still can. 🤒 I have no reason to think that I won’t be able to do things for years to come – but just in case, ya know? Even Dad, a while back, reiterated that point to me a few times… that I need to stop worrying so much, and sometimes just do the fun thing while not worrying about anything else. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Genesee’s spring visit here got cut short, so she’s making up for it on this trip. She got to Ohio early last week and plans to stay through my birthday. She’ll be visiting this person and that person, but she’s using here as a “home base” for most of her stay.

That was the plan from quite a while ago actually, with her helping me go through all of the tubs of Batina family stuff. For both my grandparents and my aunt, when they passed away I ended up saving way too many of their things that were important or keepsakes to them but hold no meaning to anyone else. As much as I want to save all of those things, it only makes sense to narrow it all down to something manageable.

Cards that they had received from decades back, candles, keychains, weird little nick knacks, photos of their friends, photos of me… where each one seemed to have at least one duplicate of random size… heh… and then of course there were receipts and manuals galore… and you might ask, “Why did you save that stuff in the first place?” Well, if they had stuff stored or marked as something important, I assumed it was all important. But just knowing that they saved it made me feel like I had to save it.

So that’s where Gen comes in. Without assistance I don’t think I’d be able to get rid of any of that stuff… so she and I sat a couple nights and went through most of the tubs and boxes and finally got it to where I’m keeping only the stuff that needs to be kept. There’s still some more things to go through, but I’m betting that by time she leaves to head home we’ll have taken care of all of it. Plus it’s nice that it means we’re stopping and looking at each thing before deciding its fate, which I think they would be happy about.

This trip to ‘da boat was one of the better ones that I’ve had in recent memory, at least since the times when me, Mom, and Dad all used to go together. 🙂 Great weather on the way down and back (which is more important than you’d think), awesome lightning over the Ohio River during the couple of evening thunderstorms while we were there, and Cassi and I were able to play and play and play – and I still came home with the same amount that I took to spend, and she was able to go home over $200 ahead and with some comp’d jewelry and goodies from the gift shop. 😃

Oh, and of course we poofed ourselves on the awesome brunch buffet. Mmm… 🤤 not just the regular buffet food, but also all of the important breakfaststuff at the same time. 😁 They must be doing alright, because the entire place is in the middle of renovations. From the giant entry way, to the lobby, to the hallways, to the rooms… everything is getting cosmetic updates. 😯 They’re still in the middle of ripping up all of the faux “stone” flooring in the giant common area and laying down “wood” strips… and for the rest of the hotel, the entire color scheme has changed. The only inconvenience in all of that was that the updated WiFi wasn’t working yet. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Our time on the actual boat was limited the first day, because the machines kicked our asses. 🙄🎰 That was okay though, because the trip was as much about “just getting away” as it was for gambling. We got one of the nicer rooms with probably the best view of all of them, looking right out onto the boat, the river, and the outdoor patio area for the indoor pool. 😎🚢 And, as it often goes, we took our swimsuits but couldn’t muster the “oomph” required to go down and actually swim with the larger-than-normal amount of assholes already in the pool. 😏 (For some of them, I think it doubled for their weekly bath.)

Day two on the actual boat was much better. 😀 I hit a big enough bonus that I was able to set back (to take home) the amount that I took with me to lose, and still have enough to keep playing and to share with Cassi so she could do the same. 🤑 And it wasn’t just that one win. (I missed catching all the winning “sevens” in that video… meh) But both of us kept hitting nice “little-big” amounts that kept us going for the better part of the day. It felt like a totally different experience than the day before. 💁🏻‍♀️🎉💁🏻‍♂️🎈

It sucked to wake up after that second night, knowing that we had to head back home, but the winning came at a time and in a way that it let us both come home with a decent amount money, so we sure couldn’t complain. Besides, we were both anxious to get home to our kitties… especially me, since I knew that Maven was all by herself and probably wondering if I had permanently disappeared. 😿 She was happy to see me when I got home of course, but she didn’t even act grumpy… so perhaps I wasn’t as missed as I had presumed. 😄 We absolutely had a good time on this trip… the last one we might be able to take for a while… but it was sure nice to be home again too.

Got back from a little trip yesterday afternoon/evening, and surprisingly got a decent amount of sleep last night, so today’s all about readjusting to being back home and getting back into the groove with some things that I want to accomplish today. 🤨 I guess I wanna prove to myself that I don’t always have to be completely worthless the day after getting back home from doing something fun.

My shoulder is killing me, but that’s to be expected… you know how it is when you go on vacation and put the negative things to the back of your mind. In my case, that meant somewhat forgetting to take it easy and probably talking with my hands way too much. 💁🏻‍♂️ Oh, and this time-lapse video… it was with the digital camcorder, so there were no bells or whistles applied – just a shot every 10 seconds with no extra processing or filters or anything. A “meh, why not” project for while we were there.

(I was going to make a super high resolution image of the boat by using the digital camcorder at high zoom and panning back and forth over it until I had the entire area covered with video – and I was going to use Microsoft ICE to process that video into a panorama… but it just wasn’t quite working so I ended up shelving the idea.)

But yeah, I just wanted to make a little pre-post post, so I’m gonna throw this up to the blog and then start figuring out what I’m gonna do with the day… and I already know that’ll include being on the laptop to do bills (since the WiFi wasn’t working at the hotel), to check and reply to emails, and to do a real trip report here in a bit. 👍🏻🖐🏻

I’ve been a bit distracted over the past several days. 😳 Genesee, Sarah, and one of their friends came to town earlier in the week, so I’ve had little micro-visits from them as they’ve been coming and going and enjoying their vacation here in Ohio. I knew this was a “them” versus a “Gen” visit, so I figured they’d be on the go most of the week and that I wouldn’t get as much time as I would on a solo visit. But then, due to an emergency at home, their stay got cut even shorter than expected. 😐 So their planned trip to Cedar Point, and our planned dinner at Jack’s and possible visit with Mom and Dad all wound up getting the axe.

I saw her for a few minutes when they first arrived, so she could drop off some donuts and diet shake mix things that she’s been taking so I could try them. 🤤 The next day I saw her for a few more minutes when she dropped off Nesh so they could visit Amish Country sans puppy, and then for a few minutes when they picked Nesh back up and delivered some Heini cheese(*giggle*) and a selection of cheese crowns. 🤔 Hmm… I guess that was it. It seems that I should have taken them up on their invitation to go out to eat with them earlier in their trip.

Nesh is a big horse of a dog, but he’s really well behaved. I’ve never seen a dog that pays so much attention (along with perfectly timed head tilting) when you talk to him. 🐺 He missed his mommy the entire time they were gone, but he still tolerated me and my lack of knowledge on how to work a dog. 🤷🏻‍♂️😅 Maven wasn’t thrilled about our company for the day, but by the end of it she at least wouldn’t run off… and instead she’d just kinda glare at him as he’d walk around the living room or occasionally come over to sniff at her. 😾

I had a couple appointments yesterday and today, both of which went without incident, so now I’m just readjusting to “normal” and getting ready to do up my dishes and laundry, before I tackle the much bigger task of taking apart my current bed frame before assembling the new one. 😬 It’s much lower to the ground and doesn’t require a box spring, so it’s just something different to see if I can prevent my back from getting fucked on a semi-regular basis when I sleep on that mattress. 🙇🏻‍♂️

I’ve recently started (somewhat) using my email again, but their visit (despite it coming in brief chunks) had my head relatively full already, so I’ve not been checking it over the past few days. I don’t think I’ll get back into it tonight, but I’m going to give it a shot tomorrow before I really get my day started. It was nice seeing Gen, but it’ll be nicer when she (hopefully) comes back in a few months on her own, with a little more time for being a potato here at the house with me, just hanging out and really catching up.

This proves that I should always make “after the fact” posts, because despite being all geared up with my medical and workers comp projects, I ended up having Cassi come down and stay over last night… which was actually just the mental break that I needed from all of that stuff. 🙂 I mean, I did keep working on it as she was here, but with her as a distraction it kept it all from consuming my brain and occupying 100% of my thought cycles as I worked. 😳

But while she was here (among other progress) I got names, numbers, and addresses for every local doctor that may be accepting new patients, every local urgent care that appears to offer services greater than the “I skinned my knee” or “My butthole really itches” type stuff, and every oral surgeon in the area so I can get more serious about getting my remaining wisdom teefs cut out. 😬 I also got new info from BWC and my BWC Rx provider, so that stuff is in much better shape as well. And the pharmacy was also updated, so my meds might possibly, hopefully, maybe get filled in a more timely fashion. 🤨👨🏻‍⚕️

Now that I think about it, I probably got more done with her here than if she wasn’t. 🤨 And without getting twitchy. 🤷🏻‍♂️ She worked on several things that she needed to do as well, taking advantage of the relative peace and quiet here compared to her house full of family. 😌 Of course she gave her brain a break as well (the main point of her staying) by making and painting some picture frames, and catching up on the last few episodes of NCIS that she still had to watch on Netflix. 👱🏻‍♀️📺 I think Maven was even happy for the unexpected visit, ‘cuz she made up to Cassi way more than usual this time. 😸

We talked quite a bit about what’s going on with my health at the moment, along with all kinds of random thoughts that come along with that topic… so it was nice to be able to talk some of that stuff out with her. 👦🏻👱🏻‍♀️ I’m not exactly sure what the plan will be for tomorrow and Friday. 😐 Now that I’ve got all this info compiled I imagine I’ll start calling someone… meh… I’ll figure it out when that time gets here. I’m gonna stay in chill mode for the rest of the evening if possible.